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Originally Posted by Karthik
Alexander,
It's clear that there are people who do not support collaboration. If I may put some words in Steve's mouth for a moment, I believe his "world is flat" analogy is refering to the fact that FIRST has clearly said collaboration is here to stay. Obviously there will be people who don't like this, but what Steve is suggesting is that those who disapprove, try and accept it's presence and make the most of it.
Let me assure you our students are inspired, as they tell me on a daily basis. I'm sure this doesn't satisfy you, but they'd be glad to tell you in person if you took the time to stop by our pits. Yes, we're aware that many people were not happy with the success of our teams at the competition. I'm sure my students realized this as well. But, we were also overwhelmed by kind comments from enthusiastic mentors, students, judges and general FIRST supporters. The positive comments definitely outweighed the negative. These comments definitely inspired our students. (Granted, I'm sure most people with the negative comments chose not to come forward with them)
Yes, not everyone likes the way we operate. Should we abandon our approach, to satisfy the critics? Obviously not. Team 254 is always unfairly criticized by the FIRST community, has this stopped them? No. They keep doing their thing, inspiring thousands along the way.
This collaboration has benefited our community, our high schools, our sponsors and our students. We've been able to affect the lives of 4 times as many Niagara Region high school students. We've energized our community about FIRST. (Expect 1114's Chairman's submission to be posted in early May, which details many of these topics) Of course we don't like the spite, but it's a small toll to pay on the road to a culture change.
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Collaboration has definitely benefitted me as a student.
Its helped me experience the true meaning of the word team. Whenever there's a problem, it doesn't matter what team you're from within our collaboration, someone will come to your aid. Its like we've all become one huge team, yet we've still kept our individuality at the same time.
Our collaboration has inspired me to help others. When I first joined team 1114, I was really unsure of what I would do since I had no experience in the shop. My opinion soon changed once build season started because I had my teammates, as well as members of 1503 and 1680 asking me to do little jobs in there, as well as teaching me how to operate some of the machinery. From this, I've felt more involved, and I now know more about the shop then I ever thought I would. I still don't know a lot, but it makes me eager to learn more so I can continue to aid the team on our way to success.
I know I'm not the only one who feels this way on our teams, and if it wasn't for the collaboration, so many students would be missing out on the opportunity to become inspired by what is accomplished. I wish to spread the word of FIRST as much as I can to other students, so they can experience the excitement and passion that we experience everyday with our team, as well as the friendships that will last a long time.
Team 1114's goal is to spread the word of FIRST, one patch at a time, and our collaboration is allowing us to achieve this goal.